Intelligent Cooperative Edge Computing in Internet of Things

Abstract

The fusion of edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI) technology is a key enabler for the smart Internet of Things (IoT). However, these two emerging paradigms face many issues for their integration, such as data storage structure, model generation algorithms, and cloud-edge collaboration mechanisms. Moreover, edge computing is not ready for supporting AI and can be enabled to support AI via some basic network functions related to Quality of Experience (QoE), such as passive computation offloading and content caching. In this article, we present an intelligent cooperative edge (ICE) computing in IoT networks to achieve a complementary integration of AI and edge computing. The AI-related modules of edge computing are redesigned for distributing AI’s core functions from the cloud to the edge. IoT-generated data are differentiated as user-private data preserved locally in IoT devices, edge-private data isolated on the edge and public data uploaded to the cloud. Therefore, a cloud-scale machine learning model can be generated, followed by privacy-preserving transfer learning running on each edge, which also has data updated more frequently that enables the model’s incremental learning. The model distribution is accomplished through lightweight deployment pipelines consisting of cloud compression and edge reconstruction. Conversely, some key issues of edge computing, such as the computation offloading and content caching, achieve a better solution using the localized AI. We perform the prototype-based evaluation, which indicates that the ICE computing architecture enables a benign combination of AI and edge computing.